Guide
What does social media actually cost you
A guide to the hidden costs of recommendation feeds: unplanned time, impulse spend, subscription creep, and the attention residue left behind after the scroll.
The feed charges in attention first
Recommendation systems are optimised to extend time on platform, not to serve your interests. Ten minutes of spare time becomes an hour because each piece of content is chosen to keep you present for the next one. The cost is not the intention to scroll — it is the gap between how long you planned to be there and how long you actually stayed.
Spend and subscriptions follow from attention
Impulse purchases and retained subscriptions are a predictable downstream effect of recommendation-heavy feeds. Products appear at the moment of highest interest, purchase friction is deliberately low, and the free trial that converted during a scroll session keeps renewing until someone notices. The Algorithm Tax Calculator adds up these categories so the total becomes legible.
Mood residue is a real cost
Feeds that consistently leave you frustrated, envious, or anxious have extracted something that does not appear on any bank statement. If you regularly feel worse after using a platform than before, the cost is real even if it is not financial. The useful question is which loop produces the worst ratio of time invested to outcome achieved, because that is the one to close first.